The Doctor Goes Shopping
by shattered melodies
Summary: A requested one-shot: "One of the Doctor's companions goes grocery shopping and the Doctor tags along."


**Author:** starlightuni (Tumblr) / shattered melodies ( )

**Fandom**: Doctor Who

**Original Idea:** "One of the Doctor's companions goes grocery shopping and the Doctor tags along."

**Character(s)**: Tenth Doctor, Donna Noble

**Warnings:** None

**Word Count:** 1035

**The Doctor Goes Shopping**

"Oi, spaceman - did we get the turkey yet?" The fiery redhead named Donna asked as she roamed the kitchen, searching through the cabinets to see what her family had to offer. Her friend named the Doctor stood in the center of the kitchen and glanced around, running his hand through his spiked up hair.

"The turkey? Not that I know of…" He opened up a cupboard. "…I don't think we have stuffing or…much of anything really."

"I guess we've got to go shopping."

It was that time of the year again, Christmas time. Donna had convinced the time-traveler to celebrate the holiday with family back home on Earth; something about seeing her grandfather and mum again. The Doctor eventually gave in; some part of him longed to see Wilfred once more. The stories the two of them could exchange with one another; they could talk forever.

Donna Noble and the Doctor strolled down the streets of London to get to the nearest Tesco, one of the supermarkets in the United Kingdom.

"You know, after all these years of being, well, me, I don't think that I've ever entered one of Earth's modern day grocery stores," said the Doctor as they entered a Tesco. He whipped his head around in slight awe as he put his hands in his pockets. "I've been to markets all over the universe - New Earth and even Barcelona; Barcelona the planet, I should clarify - but on Earth in London in the late 2000s? Never."

Donna grabbed a cart as the two strolled along through the aisles. "It's just a grocery store, Doctor. Nothing all that exciting."

"Are you kidding?" He took a box of Wheat-Thins from a shelf and looked at it real quick before grabbing a store brand version of the same cracker. "Look at this; they're practically the same thing and one's more expensive than the other! Well, that's not to say that this Wheat-Thins box is all that expensive; the store brand is just even less."

The Doctor never stopped going. He even took the cart and zoomed down the aisles. There was always something he found interesting about this "modern day grocery store." He stumbled across a stand serving free samples of sausage and nearly swallowed a stick.

"Careful of the sticks; nearly lodged one in my esophagus," said the Doctor to Donna as he offered her one. "Delicious, though. And it's all free! What will the humans come up with next?" He smiled as he licked the tips of his fingers. Donna gave her friend a strange look as she took a bite of the sample.

Her face lit up. "That is really good!" she said. "We'll have to take some." She took a package of sausage from the table and quickly snatched two more samples for her and the Doctor.

"Now, look at this over here…" He nearly jogged over to the meat section. "The meats can be out in the open but remain cool simultaneously. It's ingenious! Humans really are something."

"Doctor, it's just where they put the meat," said Donna, laughing at him while giving him a strange look. "You really haven't been to one of these before? They're all over the world."

"Ah, will you humans never cease to amaze me!" he mused with a blissful voice. They made their way to the frozen turkeys. The Doctor passed by all the steaks, chickens, and beefs, and never looked so interested in meat before.

"Oi, first-timer, would you like to pick the turkey?" Donna asked in her sarcastic voice, smirking up at him.

"Let's get this one — no, no, maybe this one… actually, this turkey seems a little suspicious… I don't like the way they froze it… maybe this one? Hm…" He took out his glasses to legitimately inspect the frozen bird one at a time. "Donna, are they supposed to be this heavy?"

"Of course, they are, you scrawny little man," she replied.

"You could use these for cannon balls!" He laughed as he put the turkey back. "It's _that_ frozen. They could be airborne once more."

"Can you imagine such a thing; frozen turkeys being used as weapons?"

"I'll believe that when pigs fly."

They went to many of the other aisles, grabbing three kinds of stuffing, mashed potatoes, and some cranberry sauce. The Doctor would've taken one of every item in the store (at least), though Donna intervened to say "enough's enough, mate!" almost every time he looked at something that mildly fascinated him.

Even when they were checking out, the Doctor was fascinated.

"Look at the way you're still being sold items while you've said 'alright, I think I'm done here' and you're ready to pay. Kind of sneaky, isn't it?" That smile never left his face as he put the items on the conveyor belt.

"Paper or plastic?" The young bagger asked the Doctor, looking up at him through glazed eyes.

"Paper or plastic…" He laughed to himself. "Do I really need to chose?"

"Uh…" The bagger was taken back.

"We have some reusable bags," Donna piped in, handing the bagger two green bags.

"Where'd you get those?"

"We've had them for a little while now — saves the planet a little bit."

"Look at you, little environmentalist!"

The Doctor and Donna took the bags and walked back home. That grin was imprinted on his face even when he left. "It's nice to have a bit of a quiet adventure every now and again, isn't it?"

"It's certainly quite different, but I'm not sure if I'd qualify this as an adventure."

"We went somewhere that we've - well, _I've_ - never been, and learned a little bit of culture. That's an adventure in my books. A very positive adventure. We'll have to stop by here again one of these days."

"How about you take me to one of those planets you mentioned before first - what was it… Barcelona?"

"Ah, I can take you somewhere even better."


End file.
